Marketers are trying to collect a lot of data, in a move towards big data. But Google and users are fighting against it : keyword not provided, cookie not accepted, location turned off, notification turned off.

Next thing is you’ll get an iBeacon alert trying to sell you something because they know you’ll pass by on monday at 8u30.

Think about this for a second how addicted we are to our mobile devices and how addicted we are to using cool technology like Google. In many ways you could say Google knows us better than our wives or our husbands because all the stuff we put in there lasts seven years.

Google’s über cookie is coming

Google is in a way walking a very thin line. On the one hand they claim to protect our privacy (keyword not provided), but on the other hand Google is reinventing the bowser cookie into an über cookie: AdID.

The stuff you browse on your laptop and the stuff you browse on your smartphone could all be lumped into one big profile on you. Advertisers will be able to tap into this information, because that’s where the money comes from for Google. Some even speculate that Google will connect your online behavior with your real profile.

The word “content” in Content Marketing deserves more credit. Will you vote ? (image : Amsterdamnewspolitics)

Whenever I talk to fellow marketing managers about Content Marketing, I feel as if the word “content” in itself just kills the whole conversation.

When the word content is used, people think of text. They think of paper, copywriting, layout, online and print. Some are more informed, and know that content marketing is more than the output of content creators.

Content marketing is all about providing customers with answers to their questions. The format in which these answers are delivered to them is irrelevant. By providing these answers, you lift your brand to become a company that is seen as a go-to-resource for knowledge and insight. By providing these answers you become a trusted party to which they’ll turn to when they have a problem, a question, an opportunity.

There are only so many ways to design an email. So many ways to optimize a landing page. So many tactics to exploit and improve conversion.

Books and blogs each day full of teaching, learn us how to create content. It seems everyone discovered the holy grail which is called content. And thy shall promote aggressively: a zillion of tips-n-trick to ‘aggressively promote’ and ‘amplify on social’ are available behind your mother of content search Google.

What’s the square root of epic content?

We are urged to create ever more epicand great content to break through the conversation clutter. Read more

Employers should expect their employees to be active on social media in the interest of the company. Employees should see this as an inherent part of their job.

The times when “being active on social media” was reserved for the boys and girls “at the marketing department” are gone. Today everyone in the organization has a role to play. Especially people that are somewhere involved close to a customer touch-point.

What’s a modern employee to do on social networks, in the interest of the company? Read more

About this blog

This blog is not about me. It is about modern marketing in todays digital world. It shares down to earth and practical tips on how to build marketing strategies, plan and execute them, as well as my own experiences on what I think differentiating marketing should be.

Opinions on this blog are mine.

About Tom De Baere

Everybody has a past, and everybody has experience. For me, my experience is 15 years in sales & marketing, in which I have developed a true passion for B2B marketing & communication.

Today I am managing partner in a company called Invisible Puppy, a digital agency specialized in helping companies to create marketing that people actually want.